Candidates to provide social media accounts to election commission

Consequent to the Election Commission of India's instructions with respect to use of social media during the election campaigning, the candidates are required to file affidavits through 'Form 26'.

Consequent to the Election Commission of India's instructions with respect to use of social media during the election campaigning, the candidates are required to file affidavits through 'Form 26'.

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An official spokesperson said here on Friday that the form is to be filled at the time of filing of nomination and the candidate needs to provide his or her telephone number, email ID and social media account, if any, to the commission.

He said that no political advertisement can be released to any online media without pre-certification from competent authorities.

The spokesperson said that the candidates and political parties would include all expenditure on campaigning, including expenditure on advertisements on social media.

He said that provisions of model code of conduct and related instructions of the Commission would also apply to the content being posted on the Internet by candidates and political parties.

As far as the content posted by persons other than candidate and other political parties was concerned the commission was considering the matter in consultation with the ministry of communications and information technology on practical ways to deal with the issue.